Goodfellows helps mom reward smart son

Updated 2:12 am, Friday, December 20, 2013

Gloria Miranda has made sure her 7-year-old son, Thomas, is fluent in English as well as in Spanish. Now he wants to learn Chinese.

Gloria Miranda has made sure her 7-year-old son, Thomas, is fluent in English as well as in Spanish. Now he wants to learn Chinese.

Photo: Craig Hartley, Freelance

Goodfellows helps mom reward smart son

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Seven-year-old Thomas Miranda wants to be a paleontologist. And a soccer player. "He wants to be everything," his 35-year-old mother, Gloria Miranda, says of her energetic honors student with the infectious smile.

The struggling mom is focused on helping her first-grader succeed. She listens intently as he talks about texture, color, mass and the fun he finds in learning science.

This summer, Miranda hopes to sign Thomas up for soccer and to learn Chinese. Having moved to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 5, she made sure her son quickly became fluent in English as well as Spanish. Now, she recognizes the importance China holds in the world.

Meanwhile, Miranda has sought help from the Houston Chronicle's Goodfellows so that Thomas will have something to unwrap on Christmas. The program provides toys for children whose families need assistance because of unemployment, illness or other circumstances.

"He wants everything," she says, with a note of concern "But I don't want anything (such as an Xbox) that will take away too much time from his studies."

Miranda said she lost her house and paid thousands in attorney fees when her former husband, Thomas' father, was deported to Honduras.

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To contribute and learn more about the Goodfellows toy drive, please visit chron.com/goodfellows or call 713-362-2273. Checks can be sent to Goodfellows, c/o Houston Chronicle, 801 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002.

She makes sure Thomas talks with his father on the phone, but it will be years before the two will see each other again.

Facing that reality, Miranda continued cleaning houses and baby-sitting, trying to make a new life.

She and Thomas moved into their current apartment a year ago.

He has "eight best friends" at school and plays soccer with other children in the parking lot of their apartment complex. Honduras, Thomas says, is his favorite team.

Miranda entered into another relationship, but pregnancy has forced her to put her work temporarily on hold. Although the baby's father has a new job and helps financially, money is short.

"Now we're going slowly, but I know God is taking care of everything," she says. "We don't live in a nice place, but we do have a ceiling over our heads."

And she keeps Thomas close - they go to the park, watch TV and go to church.